A 48-year-old man from Gateshead has today (Monday, March 10) been sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, after posting a series of racist messages on social media.
Lee Cole of East Hill Road, Gateshead, pleaded guilty at Newcastle Crown Court in January to six offences of inciting racial hatred through recklessness, contrary to Section 19 and Section 21 of the Public Order Act 1986.
Cole was arrested in July 2024 after Counter Terrorism Policing internet specialists found that he had shared racist, homophobic, transphobic and antisemitic messages on several social media sites. He had also shared a video made by the proscribed extreme right wing terrorist group National Action.
Sitting at Newcastle Crown Court, His Honour Judge Sloan KC heard a number of mitigating factors which led him to pass a suspended sentence in this case.
In addition to a suspended prison sentence, Cole was ordered to comply with:
- 50 days’ Rehabilitation Activity Order; and
- 90 days’ Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Order
The two electronic devices used in the offending were ordered to be forfeited and destroyed.
Anyone coming across material on social media which they think could be terrorist or extremist should report it in confidence at www.gov.uk/report-terrorism.